Clothes hamper



H. GLEITSMAN CLOTHES HAMPER Feb. 5, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May 4, 1954 FIG. 2

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FIG. 4

United States Patent() f'ce CLOTHES'HAMPER Harold Gleitsman, New Rochelle, N; Y.A Application May 4, 1954, SerialNo. 427,571

Claims. (Cl. B12-201) This invention relates generally to improvements in clothes hampers.

One object of the presentv invention is-,the provision of an improved clothes hamper havinga mainreceptacle for `soiled clothes, linen and the like, anda compartment which may be used to contain articles-of a different char.- acter segregated from the contents of the maincompartment.

Another object of the present invention is the pro- Vision of an improved clothes hamper which has integrated therewith a separate article compartment which is normally concealed from View, the hamper resembling a conventional hamper in the normal positioning thereof. in aroom.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved clothes hamper having a separate article compartment which is adapted to form a closurejfor the main compartment.

Yet another object of the present invention is thefpro vision of an improved clothes hamper, having a separate article compartment, which is of improved construction and appearance and in which articles, for example, vanity articles and toiletries may be segregated in the separate compartment and concealed from View.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more fullyunderstood from the following description consideredI inV connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

ln the drawings which illustrate the best mode now contemplated by me for carrying out my invention:

Fig. l is a front perspective view of a clothes hamper embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the clothes hamper with the separate article compartment cover shown in the opened position;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the clothes hamper with the separate article compartment shown in the receptacle open position;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 4l-4 of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary rear view of the upper portion of the hamper;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line dof Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary side elevational view illustrat ing the manner of integration of the separate compartment cover with the separate compartment;

Fig. 8 irs a sectional View taken on the line` 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a sectional View, on an enlargedl scale, taken on the line 9 9 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 9A is a sectional View, on an enlargedscale, taken on the line 9A-9A of Fig. 4; and

Fig.V l0 is a fragmentary sectional view of a. `bottom portion of a slightly modified form of clothes hamper.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 through 4 thereof, there is shown asclothesahamp'er 1t) which comprises a receptacle l2 and a separate article 2,780,509 Patented Feb. 5, 1957 compartment 14, said. receptacle having an open top 16, a closed bottom 18, andan upright peripherally extending wall 2t) which is secured to said bottomwall and which defines theA main compartment 22 adapted for the reception of soiled clothes, linen and the like. The peripherallyextending wall 2@ is secured to the rear wall 2d, the latter being secured to the bottom wall l in any desiredmanner, said peripherally extending walland rear Wall defining the open top 16 of compartment 22 which is `normally closed bythe separate compartment 14 in the manner to be described -in detail hereinafter. The peripherally extending wall 2li may be of any desired construction -and may be formed of any suitable material and in the illustrated embodiment said wall is of laminatedconstmction and comprises a sheet metal base layer 26 having an outer layer 28 of plastic sheet material securedthereto, said plastic layer being disposed externally of the hamperto render to saidhamper an aesthetically. attractive appearance. The rear wall 2li may be formed of any suitable material, for example, shee-t metal or any other stiif'material and the lowerfmarginal portion of said wall is doubled over and turned out as best shown in Fig. 4 to deiine'the flange 3@ which is secured to the marginal' portion 3l of the bottom wall it; by the fastener elements 3'2. The vertically extending side marginal edge portions 34 of wall2tl are defined by portions of the base layer 26 of the peripheral wall 20 bent over portions of theA outer 'layer 2S and the rear wall 24 is provided with vertically disposed' side marginal flanges 36 which are secured to adjacentV side portions of the peripheral wall 20 in any suitablefmannenas by means of welding. It will be noted that the marginal portions 34 project outwardly beyondthe'plane of? the wall 241 as clearly shown inFig. 9A. If desired, the rear wall 24 of the hamper i6 may be suitably perforated as indicated at 3S to provide ventilating'holes-for the `main compartment 22 of the hamper. The peripherallyI extending wall 2l) and the bottom wall 1'8 may be .interconnected in any desired manner and in the illustratedembodiment saidinterconnection is effected by means of the-peripherally extending connector strips 40. The bottom wall 18 has secured thereto at spaced points feet 42 of any desired construction which are adapted to be positioned on a supporting surface for supporting the hamper 10. The upper peripherally extending'marginal` edge portion 44 of the sheet metal' base layery 26 is bent around` the reinforcing rod 46 and over adjacent marginal portions of the` outer layer 2S in the manner'shown inFig. 4I to define the top edge 48 of Wall 2t). .The Lipper marginal edge of the rear wall 24 is preferably constitutedby a rolled edge 50 and straddling thev top 'edge `i8 of wall'20-is a cross sectionally U-shaped rubbing strip 52 which may bel formed of anysuitable material, for `example a suitable clear or colored plastic. From the above yit will be apparent that the open top 160i the main compartment 22 is defined by the peripherally extending strip 52 of the peripheral wall 20 andthe rollededge 50 of the rear wall 24.

Pursuant to the present invention, there is provided a f separate article compartment 14 which is disposed in superposed relation with thereceptacle 12 and which is cooperatively associated'withf the open top 16 thereof, said separate compartment forming a closurefor the compartmentr 22 in the'normal' posit-ion, thereof and being bodily movable-from the normal receptacle closed position shown in Figs. 1 vand. 4- to the receptacle open position as shown in; Fig. 3 in which the opentop 16 of the compartment 22 is accessible for placing articles in said compartment and removing articles therefrom. The separate article compartment 14 comprises a peripherally extending wall 54zwhicl1 is of laminated construction corresponding to the laminated construction of the peripherally extending y wallxZilA andy comprises a sheet metal base layer 56 and an aesthetically attractive outer layer 58 of plastic or any other suitable material, the upper and lower marginal edge portions 60 of the base layer 56 being bent over adjacent marginal edge portions of the layer S as best shown in Fig. 4. The compartment 14 is provided with a bottom wall 62 and a rear Wall 64 which are preferably of one-piece integral construction as illustrated in Fig. 4. The upper marginal edge of the Wall 64 preferably is in the form of a rolled edge 66 and the bottom wall 62 is secured to the peripheral Wall 54 in any suitable manner, for example, as shown in the illustrated embodiment, by means of the bent over marginal strip 68 of said bottom wall which is welded, or otherwise suitably secured, to said peripheral wall. Suitably secured to the bottom wall 62 of the separate compartment 14 is an upstanding partition member 70 which is adapted to partition the compartment 14.

It is to be noted that the marginal portions 71 of wall 54 project outwardly beyond the plane of the wall 64 and are structurally similar to the marginal portions 34. The top cover 72 of the compartment 14 is hinged to said compartment at 74 and is swingable from the normally closed position shown in Figs. l, 3 and 4 to the open position shown in Figs. 2 and 7 for access to the interior 76 of the separate article compartment 14. In the illustrated embodiment the top cover 72 is of laminated construction and comprises a stif base member 78 having an outer member 80 secured thereto, the latter being formed of plastic sheet material 31 covering the ller material 83 disposed thereunder, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. Accordingly the normally visible portions of the cover 72 will be constituted by plastic sheet material or the like, of aesthetically attractive appearance. One of the hinges 74 which mounts the cover 72 to the compartment 14 is preferably provided with a stop member 82 which is adapted to coact with an adjacent marginal portion 71 as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 to limit the opening movement of the cover 72. Positioned at spaced points along the upper marginal edge 60 of the compartment 14 are U-shaped bumpers 84 formed of any suitable material which are adapted to prevent the cover 72 from engaging said marginal edge. The peripheral Wall 54 at the front thereof is provided with a knob 84 in order to facilitate the manual manipulation of the separate article compartment 14 in the manner to be described in detail hereinafter.

One side of the separate article compartment 14 is pivotally mounted to the receptacle 12 for movement between the receptacle closed position as shown in Figs. l and 4 in which the separate compartment 14 at the bottom wall 62 thereof forms a closure for said receptacle and a receptacle open position as shown in Fig. 3, in which the separate compartment 14 is bodily displaced to open the main compartment 22 for the reception of articles segregated from the articles in the interior 76 of the compartment 14. In order to provide for the pivotal mounting of the compartment 14 relative to the receptacle 12, there is provided a bracket 86 which has a U-shaped lower part 88 secured to an adjacent marginal portion 34 of the receptacle 12 by means of the fastener elements 90, the part 88 straddling said marginal portion as shown in Fig. 9. The bracket 86 is provided with an upper socket part 92 which is adapted for the reception of the pin 94, said socket part and pin being adapted to mount the U-shaped bracket 96 which is secured to the wall 64 in any suitable manner. The bracket 96 is provided with a pair of laterally spaced legs 98 and 100, the leg 98 being apertured for the reception of the pin 94 and the leg 100 being apertured for the reception of the socket part 92 wherein it will be apparent that the brackets 86 and 96 constitute means providing for the pivotal mounting of the compartment 14. From the above it will be apparent that the pivotal axis for the pivotal movement of the compartment 14 is substantially vertically disposed and that said compartment is 4 i pivotally movable in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the open top 16 of the compartment 22. In the normal position of the compartment 14 the receptacle 12 will be closed by said compartment and accordingly the separate compartment 14 constitutes a closure for the open top 16 of the main compartment 22. The separate compartment 14 may be readily pivotally moved to the position shown in Fig. 3 in which access may be obtained to the main compartment 22 for depositing articles therein or for removing articles therefrom. Depending from the bottom wall 62 of the compartment 14 are a pair of stop members 104 which are adapted to limit the pivotal movement of said compartment in receptacle open and receptacle closed directions. The stop member 104 is adapted to coact with the peripheral wall 20 of the receptacle 12 for limiting the pivotal movement of the compartment 14 in the receptacle open direction and both the stop members 104 and 104 are adapted to coact with the upper marginal edge 50 of the rear wall 24 for limiting the pivotal movement of said separate compartment in the receptacle closed direction.

The peripherally extending wall 54 of the compartment 14 has a peripherally extending depending portion 106 which is adapted to overlie the peripherally extending upper marginal edge portion 48 of the peripheral wall 20 when the separate compartment 14 is in the receptacle closed position. Accordingly when the separate article compartment is in the normal receptacle closed position the depending periphery extending portion 106 will conceal the portions of wall 20 adjacent the open top 16 whereby to present a very neat and aesthetically attractive overall hamper appearance.

In order to prevent substantial vertical movement between the separate compartrnent 14 and the receptacle 12 when the latter is closed by said separate compartment there is provided a projecting linger 108 (Figs. 5 `and 6) which is secured to a marginal portion 34 of the receptacle 12 and a complementary aperture or slot 110 defined in the rear Wall 64 of said separate compartment. As shown in Fig. 6, the finger 10S is provided with a corrugated edge 112 which is adapted to releasably interlock with the edge 114 dened by the aperture 11.0 and said inger is adapted to register with and extend through said aperture when the separate compartment 14 is pivoted to the normal receptacle closed position. Thus the finger 108 and the aperture 110 constitute interengaging means on the receptacle and separate compartment, respectively, for preventing substantial vertical movement between said separate compartment and said receptacle so that the hamper 10 may be raised or carried by the separate article compartment 14 without danger of stressing the pivotal connection between the separate article compartment 14 and the receptacle 12. Accordingly when the separate compartment 14 is in its normal receptacle closed position, said separate compartment may be lifted or otherwise manipulated Without danger of unduly stressing the pivotal connection between said separate compartment and the receptacle 12 since the interengagement of the part or finger 108 in the aperture 110 will prevent substantial vertical displacement of the free side of the separate compartment 14 from the receptacle 12.

With reference to Fig. l0, there is shown a fragmcrtary portion of a hamper 10' which is similar in all rcspects to the hamper 10 above described except that hamper 10 is provided with a plurality of casters 116 which yare suitably integrated with the base of the hamper in order to provide for ease of movement of the hamper 10' on a suitable supporting surface. Accordingly a hamper formed pursuant to the present invention may be provided with fixed supporting feet 42 or with casters 116 as shown in Fig. l0.

From the above it will be apparent that the separate article compartment 14 is adapted to form a closure for the main compartment 22 and that access to said main compartment may be readily obtained by pivotally movefrsooo ing said separate compartment relative to the receptacle 12 in the manner above described in detail. Access may be readily obtained to the compartment 14 by opening the cover 72 which is pivotally movable about a` generally horizontally disposed pivotal axis. Thus vanity articles, toiletries and the like may be disposed in the interior 76 of compartment 14 segregated from the contents of the main compartment 22. Accordingly clothes hamper 10 is provided with a receptacle 12 for soiled clothes, linen .and the like, and is provided with a compartment 14 which may be used to contain articles of a` different character segregated from the contents of the main compartment 22. The contents in both the main and separate article compartments are normally concealed from view and the hamper of the above construction resembles a conventional hamper in the normal positioning thereof in a room. The rubbing strip 52 forms a bearing surface for the pivotal movement of the separate compartment 14 relative to the receptacle 12 wherein it will be apparent that said rubbing strip will prevent the marring of the upper marginal edge portion 48 of the Wall 20.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that various changes may be made in the idea or principles of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. A hamper comprising a peripherally extending wall and a rear wall secured thereto to define a lower main receptacle having an opening at its top to form the hamper proper, sa-id peripherally extending wall having opposing marginal edge portions which project outwardly beyond the plane of the rear Wall rearwardly of the latter, an upper receptacle defined by a peripherally extending wall and a rear wall secured thereto, said last mentioned peripherally extending wall having opposing marginal edge portions which project outwardly beyond the plane of said last mentioned rear wall rearwardly of the latter, said receptacles being relatively pivotally movable laterally of each other from positions in which they are in vertical alignment to positions in which they are in laterally displaced relation, and means connecting said receptacles for said relative pivotal movement thereof, said means comprising a vertical hinge having parts provided on said upper and lower receptacles at the rear thereof and between the opposing marginal edge portions of the associated receptacles, the two receptacles being laterally olset when they are in said displaced relation so as to provide access to the hamper proper through said top opening thereof, said top opening being closed by said upper receptacle when the two receptacles are in said positions of vertical alignment, and interengaging releasable parts provided on said upper and lower receptacles at the rear thereof and between the opposing marginal edge portions of the associated receptacle to support the lower receptacle at the rear thereof by said upper receptacle in case the hamper is raised by the upper receptacle when the two receptacles are in said positions of vertical alignment.

2. A hamper as defined in claim l, further characterized in that said hinge parts are provided at the same marginal edge portions of said two receptacles and said interengaging parts are provided at the respective opposing marginal edge portions of said two receptacles.

3. A hamper as defined in claim 1, further characterized in that said hinge comprises a socket defining part secured to one of the marginal edge portions of the lower receptacle and a bracket provided on the rear wall of the upper receptacle adjacent the same marginal edge portion thereof.

4. A hamper as defined in claim l, further characterized in that said interengaging parts comprise a linger provided in one of the marginal edge portions of the lower receptacle and a cooperating aperture defined in the rear wall of the upper receptacle adjacent the same marginal edge portion thereof.

5. A hamper as defined in claim l, further characterized in that said hinge comprises a socket defining part secured to one of the marginal edge portions of the lower receptacle and a bracket provided on the rear wall of the upper receptacle adjacent the same marginal edge portion thereof, said interengaging parts comprising a finger provided in the opposing marginal edge portion of the lower receptacle and a cooperating aperture defined in the rear wall of the upper receptacle adjacent the marginal edge portion thereof `opposite that which. is adjacent said bracket.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 577,346 Bjorkman Feb. 16, 1897 922,751 Conway May 25, 1909 1,059,221 Saylor Apr. l5, 1913 1,101,623 .Evans et al a lune 30, 1914 2,358,194 White Sept. 12, 1944 2,396,932 Slaton Mar. 19, 1946 2,547,641 Henderson Apr. 3, 1951 2,607,653 Fuerst Aug. 19, 1952. 2,640,622 Sabatino June 2, 1953 

